Academic Commons Search Resultshttp://academiccommons.columbia.edu/catalog.rss?f%5Bdepartment_facet%5D%5B%5D=Physics&f%5Bsubject_facet%5D%5B%5D=Astrophysics&q=&rows=500&sort=record_creation_date+desc
Academic Commons Search Resultsen-usEBEX: A Balloon-Borne Telescope for Measuring Cosmic Microwave Background Polarizationhttp://academiccommons.columbia.edu/catalog/ac:182983
Chapman, Danielhttp://dx.doi.org/10.7916/D87D2SZ5Fri, 06 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0000EBEX is a long-duration balloon-borne (LDB) telescope designed to probe polarization signals in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). It is designed to measure or place an upper limit on the inflationary B-mode signal, a signal predicted by inflationary theories to be imprinted on the CMB by gravitational waves, to detect the effects of gravitational lensing on the polarization of the CMB, and to characterize polarized Galactic foreground emission. The payload consists of a pointed gondola that houses the optics, polarimetry, detectors and detector readout systems, as well as the pointing sensors, control motors, telemetry sytems, and data acquisition and flight control computers. Polarimetry is achieved with a rotating half-wave plate and wire grid polarizer. The detectors are sensitive to frequency bands centered on 150, 250, and 410 GHz. EBEX was flown in 2009 from New Mexico as a full system test, and then flown again in December 2012 / January 2013 over Antarctica in a long-duration flight to collect scientific data. In the instrumentation part of this thesis we discuss the pointing sensors and attitude determination algorithms. We also describe the real-time map making software, "QuickLook", that was custom-designed for EBEX. We devote special attention to the design and construction of the primary pointing sensors, the star cameras, and their custom-designed flight software package, "STARS" (the Star Tracking Attitude Reconstruction Software). In the analysis part of this thesis we describe the current status of the post-flight analysis procedure. We discuss the data structures used in analysis and the pipeline stages related to attitude determination and map making. We also discuss a custom-designed software framework called "LEAP" (the LDB EBEX Analysis Pipeline) that supports most of the analysis pipeline stages.Physics, Astrophysicsdc2441PhysicsDissertationsGravitation and Multimessenger Astrophysicshttp://academiccommons.columbia.edu/catalog/ac:175203
Bartos, Imrehttp://dx.doi.org/10.7916/D8FT8J3BWed, 16 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0000Gravitational waves originate from the most violent cosmic events, which are often hidden from traditional means of observation. Starting with the first direct observation of gravitational waves in the coming years, astronomy will become richer with a new messenger that can help unravel many of the yet unanswered questions on various cosmic phenomena. The ongoing construction of advanced gravitational wave observatories requires disruptive innovations in many aspects of detector technology in order to achieve the sensitivity that lets us reach cosmic events. We present the development of a component of this technology, the Advanced LIGO Optical Timing Distribution System. This technology aids the detection of relativistic phenomena through ensuring that time, at least for the observatories, is absolute. Gravitational waves will be used to look into the depth of cosmic events and understand the engines behind the observed phenomena. As an example, we examine some of the plausible engines behind the creation of gamma ray bursts. We anticipate that, by reaching through shrouding blastwaves, efficiently discovering off-axis events, and observing the central engine at work, gravitational wave detectors will soon transform the study of gamma ray bursts. We discuss how the detection of gravitational waves could revolutionize our understanding of the progenitors of gamma ray bursts, as well as related phenomena such as the properties of neutron stars. One of the most intriguing directions in utilizing gravitational waves is their combination with other cosmic messengers such as photons or neutrinos. We discuss the strategies and ongoing efforts in this direction. Further, we present the first observational constraints on joint sources of gravitational waves and high energy neutrinos, the latter of which is created in relativistic plasma outflows, e.g., in gamma ray burst progenitors. High energy neutrinos may be created inside a relativistic outflow burrowing its way out of a massive star from the star's collapsed core. We demonstrate how the detection of high energy neutrinos can be used to extract important information about the supernova/gamma-ray burst progenitor structure. We show that, under favorable conditions, even a few neutrinos are sufficient to probe the progenitor structure, opening up new possibilities for the first detections, as well for progenitor population studies. We present the science reach and method of an ongoing search for common sources of gravitational waves and high energy neutrinos using the initial LIGO/Virgo detectors and the partially completed IceCube detector. We also present results on the sensitivity of the search. We argue that such searches will open the window onto source populations whose electromagnetic emission is hardly detectable.Physics, Astrophysicsib2179PhysicsDissertationsObservational Properties of Gigaelectronvolt-Teraelectronvolt Blazars and the Study of the Teraelectronvolt Blazar RBS 0413 with VERITAShttp://academiccommons.columbia.edu/catalog/ac:166933
Senturk, Gunes Demethttp://hdl.handle.net/10022/AC:P:22118Mon, 04 Nov 2013 00:00:00 +0000Blazars are active galactic nuclei with a relativistic jet directed towards the observer's line of sight. Characterization of the non-thermal continuum emission originating from the blazar jet is currently an essential question in high-energy astrophysics. A blazar spectral energy distribution (SED) has a typical double-peaked shape in the flux vs. energy representation. The low-energy component of the SED is well-studied and thought to be due to synchrotron emission from relativistic electrons. The high-energy component, on the other hand, is still not completely understood and the emission in this part of the blazar spectrum can extend to energies as high as tera electron volts in some objects. This portion of the electromagnetic spectrum is referred to as the very-high-energy (VHE or TeV, E > 0.1 TeV) regime. At the time of this writing, more than half a hundred blazars have been detected to emit TeV gamma rays, representing the high energy extreme of these objects and constituting a population of its own. Most of these TeV blazars have also been detected in the high-energy (HE or GeV, 0.1 GeV < E < 0.1 TeV) gamma-ray range. In this work, we report on our discovery of the TeV emission from the blazar RBS 0413 and perform a detailed data analysis on this source, including contemporaneous multi-wavelength observations to characterize the broad-band SED and test various emission models for the high-energy component. Further, we extend our focus on the high-energy component to all archival TeV-detected blazars and study their spectral properties in the framework of GeV and TeV gamma-ray observations. To do this, we assemble for the first time the GeV and TeV spectra of a complete sample of TeV-detected blazars available in the archive to date. In the Appendix we present an analysis method for improved observations of large zenith angle targets with VERITAS.Physics, Astrophysicsgds2110PhysicsDissertationsAn atom trap trace analysis (ATTA) system for measuring ultra-low contamination by krypton in xenon dark matter detectorshttp://academiccommons.columbia.edu/catalog/ac:166773
Yoon, Taehyunhttp://hdl.handle.net/10022/AC:P:22057Thu, 31 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000The XENON dark matter experiment aims to detect hypothetical weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) scattering off nuclei within its liquid xenon (LXe) target. The trace 85Kr in the xenon target undergoes beta-decay with a 687 keV end point and 10.8 year halflife, which contributes background events and limits the sensitivity of the experiment. In order to achieve the desired sensitivity, the contamination by krypton is reduced to the part per trillion (ppt) level by cryogenic distillation. The conventional methods are not well suited for measuring the krypton contamination at such a low level. In this work, we have developed an atom trap trace analysis (ATTA) device to detect the ultra-low krypton concentration in the xenon target. This project was proposed to the National Science Foundation (NSF) as a Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) development [Aprile and Zelevinsky, 2009] and is funded by NSF and Columbia University. The ATTA method, originally developed at Argonne National Laboratory, uses standard laser cooling and trapping techniques, and counts single trapped atoms. Since the isotopic abundance of 85Kr in nature is 1.5 × 10^-11, the 85Kr/Xe level is expected to be ~10^-23, which is beyond the capability of our method. Thus we detect the most abundant (57%) isotope 84Kr, and infer the 85Kr contamination from their known abundances. To avoid contamination by krypton, the setup is tested and optimized with 40Ar which has a similar cooling wavelength to 84Kr. Two main challenges in this experiment are to obtain a trapping efficiency high enough to detect krypton impurities at the ppt level, and to achieve the resolution to discriminate single atoms. The device is specially designed and adjusted to meet these challenges. After achieving these criteria with argon gas, we precisely characterize the efficiency of the system using Kr-Xe mixtures with known ratios, and find that ~90 minutes are required to trap one 84Kr atom at the 1-ppt Kr/Xe contamination. This thesis describes the design, construction, and experimental results of the ATTA project at Columbia University.Atomic physics, Astrophysicsty2182PhysicsDissertationsCosmology with Weak Lensing Peakshttp://academiccommons.columbia.edu/catalog/ac:163342
Yang, Xiuyuanhttp://hdl.handle.net/10022/AC:P:21104Tue, 16 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0000Recent studies have shown that the number counts of peaks in weak lensing (WL) surveys contain significant cosmological information. Motivated by this finding, in the first part of the thesis, we address two questions: (i) what is the physical origin of WL peaks; and (ii) how much information do the peaks contain beyond the traditional cosmological WL observable (the power spectrum). To investigate the first question, we use a suite of ray-tracing N-body simulations, in which we identify individual dark matter halos. We study the halos' contribution to the peaks. We find that high peaks are typically dominated by a single massive halo, while low peaks are created by galaxy shape noise, but with an important contribution from a line-of-sight projection of typically 4-8 halos. For the second question, we first compare the cosmological peak count distributions to those in a Gaussian random field. We find significant differences, both in the peak-count distributions themselves, as well as in how the distributions depend on cosmology, demonstrating that the peaks contain non-Gaussian information. To explicitly quantify the information content of the peaks beyond the power spectrum, we use the Fisher matrix method to forecast errors in the three-dimensional parameters space (σ_8, w, Ω_m). We find that when we combine the peaks and the power spectrum, the marginalized errors are a factor of about two smaller than from power spectrum alone. In the second part of the thesis, we address a major theoretical systematic error: the presence of baryons -- not included in the N-body simulations -- can affect the WL statistics (both peaks and power spectrum), and the inferred cosmological parameters. We apply a simplified model, which mimics the cooling and condensation of baryons at the centers of dark matter halos. In particular, we manually steepen the density profile of each dark matter halo identified in the N-body simulations, and repeat the ray-tracing procedure create WL maps in mock "baryonic'' universes. We then compare the peak count distributions and power spectra in these baryonic models to those from the pure DM models. We find that there is a large increase in the number of high peaks, but low peaks -- which contain most of the cosmological information -- are robust to baryons. Similarly, we find that the high--l power spectrum is increased, but the change in the low--l power spectrum is relatively modest. We then utilize a Monte Carlo approach to compute the joint, and in general, biased constraints on σ_8, w, Ω_m when the baryonic model is fit by the pure DM models. We find that: (i) constraints obtained from low peaks are nearly unbiased; (ii) high peaks yield large biases, but in different directions in parameter space than the biases from the power spectrum. Our first finding suggests it may be advantageous to use low peaks for analysis until the baryonic processes are better understood. However, our second finding suggests the possibility of "self-calibration'': simultaneously fitting astrophysical "nuisance'' parameters (describing lensing halo profiles) with cosmological parameters.Astrophysicsxy2117PhysicsDissertationsXENON100 Dark Matter Search: Scintillation Response of Liquid Xenon to Electronic Recoilshttp://academiccommons.columbia.edu/catalog/ac:156964
Lim, Kyungeunhttp://hdl.handle.net/10022/AC:P:19131Wed, 20 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000Dark matter is one of the missing pieces necessary to complete the puzzle of the universe. Numerous astrophysical observations at all scales suggest that 23 % of the universe is made of nonluminous, cold, collisionless, nonbaryonic, yet undiscovered dark matter. Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) are the most well-motivated dark matter candidates and significant efforts have been made to search for WIMPs. The XENON100 dark matter experiment is currently the most sensitive experiment in the global race for the first direct detection of WIMP dark matter. XENON100 is a dual-phase (liquid-gas) time projection chamber containing a total of 161 kg of liquid xenon (LXe) with a 62kg WIMP target mass. It has been built with radiopure materials to achieve an ultra-low electromagnetic background and operated at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy. WIMPs are expected to scatter off xenon nuclei in the target volume. Simultaneous measurement of ionization and scintillation produced by nuclear recoils allows for the detection of WIMPs in XENON100. Data from the XENON100 experiment have resulted in the most stringent limits on the spin-independent elastic WIMP- nucleon scattering cross sections for most of the significant WIMP masses. As the experimental precision increases, a better understanding of the scintillation and ionization response of LXe to low energy (< 10 keV) particles is crucial for the interpretation of data from LXe based WIMP searches. A setup has been built and operated at Columbia University to measure the scintillation response of LXe to both electronic and nuclear recoils down to energies of a few keV, in particular for the XENON100 experiment. In this thesis, I present the research carried out in the context of the XENON100 dark matter search experiment. For the theoretical foundation of the XENON100 experiment, the first two chapters are dedicated to the motivation for and detection medium choice of the XENON100 experiment, respectively. A general review about dark matter focusing on WIMPs and their direct detection with liquid noble gas detectors is presented in Chap. 1. LXe as an attractive WIMP detection medium is explained in Chap. 2. The XENON100 detector design, the detector, and its subsystems are detailed in Chap. 3. The calibration of the detector and the characterized detector response used for the discrimination of a WIMP-like signal against background are explained in Chap. 4. In an effort to understand the background, anomalous electronic recoils were studied extensively and are described in Chap. 5. In order to obtain a better understanding of the electronic recoil background of XENON100, including an estimation of the electronic recoil background contribution, as well as to interpret dark matter results such as annual modulation, measurement of the scintillation yield of low-energy electrons in LXe was performed in 2011, with the dedicated setup mentioned above. The results from this measurement are discussed in Chap. 6. Finally, the results for the latest science data from XENON100 to search for WIMPs, comprising 225 live-days taken over 13 months during 2011 and 2012 are explained in Chap. 7.Physics, AstrophysicsPhysicsDissertationsAn Accelerator Measurement of Atomic X-ray Yields in Exotic Atoms and Implications for an Antideuteron-Based Dark Matter Searchhttp://academiccommons.columbia.edu/catalog/ac:166530
Aramaki, Tsuguohttp://hdl.handle.net/10022/AC:P:14873Wed, 10 Oct 2012 00:00:00 +0000The General AntiParticle Spectrometer (GAPS) is a novel approach for indirect dark mat- ter searches that exploits cosmic antideuterons. The low energy antideuteron provides a clean dark matter signature, since the antideuteron production by cosmic ray interactions is suppressed at low energy, while the WIMP-WIMP annihilation can produce low energy an- tideuterons. GAPS utilizes a distinctive detection method using atomic X-rays and charged particles from the exotic atom as well as the timing, stopping range and dE/dX energy deposit of the incoming particle, which provides excellent antideuteron identification. Prior to the future balloon experiment, an accelerator test was conducted in 2004 and 2005 at KEK, Japan to measure the atomic X-rays of antiprotonic exotic atoms produced by different targets. In 2005, solid targets were tested to avoid the bulky fixture of the gas target and also to have flexibility of the detector geometry in the flight experiment. Recently, we have developed a simple cascade model and the parameters were fitted with the experimental results. The cascade model was extended to the antideuteronic exotic atom for the GAPS flight experiment. GEANT4 simulation was conducted to obtain optimized cuts on the timing, stopping range, dE/dX energy deposit, atomic X-rays, and annihilation products, in order to eliminate the background. Based on the simulation results, we have estimated the GAPS sensitivity with the antideuteron flux. GAPS has a strong potential to detect a dark matter signature.Physics, Astrophysicsta2159PhysicsDissertationsSimulations of Dynamic Relativistic Magnetosphereshttp://academiccommons.columbia.edu/catalog/ac:152158
Parfrey, Kyle Patrickhttp://hdl.handle.net/10022/AC:P:14563Wed, 29 Aug 2012 00:00:00 +0000Neutron stars and black holes are generally surrounded by magnetospheres of highly conducting plasma in which the magnetic flux density is so high that hydrodynamic forces are irrelevant. In this vanishing-inertia---or ultra-relativistic---limit, magnetohydrodynamics becomes force-free electrodynamics, a system of equations comprising only the magnetic and electric fields, and in which the plasma response is effected by a nonlinear current density term. In this dissertation I describe a new pseudospectral simulation code, designed for studying the dynamic magnetospheres of compact objects. A detailed description of the code and several numerical test problems are given. I first apply the code to the aligned rotator problem, in which a star with a dipole magnetic field is set rotating about its magnetic axis. The solution evolves to a steady state, which is nearly ideal and dissipationless everywhere except in a current sheet, or magnetic field discontinuity, at the equator, into which electromagnetic energy flows and is dissipated. Magnetars are believed to have twisted magnetospheres, due to internal magnetic evolution which deforms the crust, dragging the footpoints of external magnetic field lines. This twisting may be able to explain both magnetars' persistent hard X-ray emission and their energetic bursts and flares. Using the new code, I simulate the evolution of relativistic magnetospheres subjected to slow twisting through large angles. The field lines expand outward, forming a strong current layer; eventually the configuration loses equilibrium and a dynamic rearrangement occurs, involving large-scale rapid magnetic reconnection and dissipation of the free energy of the twisted magnetic field. When the star is rotating, the magnetospheric twisting leads to a large increase in the stellar spin-down rate, which may take place on the long twisting timescale or in brief explosive events, depending on where the twisting is applied and the history of the system. One such explosive field-expansion and reconnection event may have been responsible for the 27 August 1998 giant flare from SGR 1900+14, and the coincident sudden increase in spin period, or "braking glitch." The inner magnetospheres of relativistic compact objects are in strongly curved spacetimes. I describe the extension of the code to general-relativistic simulations, including the hypersurface foliation method and the 3+1 equations of force-free electrodynamics in curved, evolving spacetimes. A simple test problem for dynamical behavior in the Schwarzschild metric is presented, and the evolutions of the magnetospheres surrounding neutron stars and black holes, in vacuum and in force-free plasma, are compared.Astrophysicskp2226Physics, Astronomy and AstrophysicsDissertationsThe XENON100 Dark Matter Experiment: Design, Construction, Calibration and 2010 Search Results with Improved Measurement of the Scintillation Response of Liquid Xenon to Low-Energy Nuclear Recoilshttp://academiccommons.columbia.edu/catalog/ac:143844
Plante, GuillaumeFri, 27 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000An impressive array of astrophysical observations suggest that 83% of the matter in the universe is in a form of non-luminous, cold, collisionless, non-baryonic dark matter. Several extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics aimed at solving the hierarchy problem predict stable weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) that could naturally have the right cosmological relic abundance today to compose most of the dark matter if their interactions with normal matter are on the order of a weak scale cross section. These candidates also have the added benefit that their properties and interaction rates can be computed in a well defined particle physics model. A considerable experimental effort is currently under way to uncover the nature of dark matter. One method of detecting WIMP dark matter is to look for its interactions in terrestrial detectors where it is expected to scatter off nuclei. In 2007, the XENON10 experiment took the lead over the most sensitive direct detection dark matter search in operation, the CDMS II experiment, by probing spin-independent WIMP-nucleon interaction cross sections down to σχN ~ 5 × 10-44 cm2 at 30GeV/c2. Liquefied noble gas detectors are now among the technologies at the forefront of direct detection experiments. Liquid xenon (LXe), in particular, is a well suited target for WIMP direct detection. It is easily scalable to larger target masses, allows discrimination between nuclear recoils and electronic recoils, and has an excellent stopping power to shield against external backgrounds. A particle losing energy in LXe creates both ionization electrons and scintillation light. In a dual-phase LXe time projection chamber (TPC) the ionization electrons are drifted and extracted into the gas phase where they are accelerated to amplify the charge signal into a proportional scintillation signal. These two signals allow the three-dimensional localization of events with millimeter precision and the ability to fiducialize the target volume, yielding an inner core with a very low background. Additionally, the ratio of ionization and scintillation can be used to discriminate between nuclear recoils, from neutrons or WIMPs, and electronic recoils, from γ or β backgrounds. In these detectors, the energy scale is based on the scintillation signal of nuclear recoils and consequently the precise knowledge of the scintillation efficiency of nuclear recoils in LXe is of prime importance. Inspired by the success of the XENON10 experiment, the XENON collaboration designed and built a new, ten times larger, with a one hundred times lower background, LXe TPC to search for dark matter. It is currently the most sensitive direct detection experiment in operation. In order to shed light on the response of LXe to low energy nuclear recoils a new single phase detector designed specifically for the measurement of the scintillation efficiency of nuclear recoils was also built. In 2011, the XENON100 dark matter results from 100 live days set the most stringent limit on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon interaction cross section over a wide range of masses, down to σχN ~ 7 x 10-45 cm2 at 50GeV/c2, almost an order of magnitude improvement over XENON10 in less than four years. This thesis describes the research conducted in the context of the XENON100 dark matter search experiment. I describe the initial simulation results and ideas that influenced the design of the XENON100 detector, the construction and assembly steps that lead into its concrete realization, the detector and its subsystems, a subset of the calibration results of the detector, and finally dark matter exclusion limits. I also describe in detail the new improved measurement of the important quantity for the interpretation of results from LXe dark matter searches, the scintillation efficiency of low-energy nuclear recoils in LXe.Physics, Astrophysicsgp2135Physics, Astronomy and AstrophysicsDissertationsSpinning Black Hole Pairs: Dynamics and Gravitational Waveshttp://academiccommons.columbia.edu/catalog/ac:141916
Grossman, Rebecca I.http://hdl.handle.net/10022/AC:P:11791Fri, 11 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000Black hole binaries will be an important source of gravitational radiation for both ground-based and future space-based gravitational wave detectors. The study of such systems will offer a unique opportunity to test the dynamical predictions of general relativity when gravity is very strong. To date, most investigations of black hole binary dynamics have focused attention on restricted scenarios in which the black holes do not spin (and thus are confined to move in a plane) and/or in which they stay on quasi-circular orbits. However, spinning black hole pairs in eccentric orbits are now understood to be astrophysically equally important. These spinning binaries exhibit a range of complicated dynamical behaviors, even in the absence of radiation reaction. Their conservative dynamics is complicated by extreme perihelion precession compounded by spin-induced precession. Although the motion seems to defy simple decoding, we are able to quantitatively define and describe the fully three-dimensional motion of arbitrary mass-ratio binaries with at least one black hole spinning and expose an underlying simplicity. To do so, we untangle the dynamics by constructing an instantaneous orbital plane and showing that the motion captured in that plane obeys elegant topological rules. In this thesis, we apply the above prescription to two formal systems used to model black hole binaries. The first is defined by the conservative 3PN Hamiltonian plus spin-orbit coupling and is particularly suitable to comparable-mass binaries. The second is defined by geodesics of the Kerr metric and is used exclusively for extreme mass-ratio binaries. In both systems, we define a complete taxonomy for fully three-dimensional orbits. More than just a naming system, the taxonomy provides unambiguous and quantitative descriptions of the orbits, including a determination of the zoom-whirliness of any given orbit. Through a correspondence with the rational numbers, we are able to show that all of the qualitative features of the well-studied equatorial geodesic motion around Schwarzschild and Kerr black holes are also present in more general black hole binary systems. This includes so-called zoom-whirl behavior, which turns out to be unexpectedly prevalent in comparable-mass binaries in the strong-field regime just as it is for extreme mass-ratio binaries. In each case we begin by thoroughly cataloging the constant radius orbits which generally lie on the surface of a sphere and have acquired the name "spherical orbits". The spherical orbits are significant as they energetically frame the distribution of all orbits. In addition, each unstable spherical orbit is asymptotically approached by an orbit that whirls an infinite number of times, known as a homoclinic orbit. We further catalog the homoclinic trajectories, each of which is the infinite whirl limit of some part of the zoom-whirl spectrum and has a further significance as the separatrix between inspiral and plunge for eccentric orbits. We then show that there exists a discrete set of orbits that are geometrically closed n-leaf clovers in a precessing orbital plane. When viewed in the full three dimensions, these orbits do not close, but they are nonetheless periodic when projected into the orbital plane. Each n-leaf clover is associated with a rational number, q, that measures the degree of perihelion precession in the precessing orbital plane. The rational number q varies monotonically with the orbital energy and with the orbital eccentricity. Since any bound orbit can be approximated as near one of these periodic n-leaf clovers, this special set offers a skeleton that illuminates the structure of all bound orbits in both systems, in or out of the equatorial plane. A first significant conclusion that can be drawn from this analysis is that all generic orbits in the final stages of inspiral under gravitational radiation losses are characterized by precessing clovers with few leaves, and that no orbit will behave like the tightly precessing ellipse of Mercury. We close with a practical application of our taxonomy beyond the illumination of conservative dynamics. The numerical calculation of the first-order (adiabatic) approximation to radiatively evolving inspiral motion in extreme mass-ratio binaries is currently hindered by prohibitive computational cost. Motivated by this limitation, we explain how a judicious use of periodic orbits can dramatically expedite both that calculation and the generation of snapshot gravitational waves from geodesic sources.Physics, Astrophysicsrg420Physics, Physics and Astronomy (Barnard College)DissertationsResults from the QUIET Q-Band Observing Seasonhttp://academiccommons.columbia.edu/catalog/ac:141910
Dumoulin, Robert Nicolashttp://hdl.handle.net/10022/AC:P:11789Fri, 11 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000The Q/U Imaging ExperimenT (QUIET) is a ground-based telescope located in the high Atacama Desert in Chile, and is designed to measure the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) in the Q and W frequency bands (43 and 95 GHz respectively) using coherent polarimeters. From 2008 October to 2010 December, data from more than 10,000 observing hours were collected, first with the Q-band receiver (2008 October to 2009 June) and then with the W-band receiver (until the end of the 2010 observing season). The QUIET data analysis effort uses two independent pipelines, one consisting of a maximum likelihood framework and the other consisting of a pseudo-C` framework. Both pipelines employ blind analysis methods, and each provides analysis of the data using large suites of null tests specific to the pipeline. Analysis of the Q-band receiver data was completed in November of 2010, confirming the only previous detection of the first acoustic peak of the EE power spectrum and setting competitive limits on the scalar-totensor ratio, r. In this dissertation, the results from the Q-band observing season using the maximum likelihood pipeline will be presented.Physics, AstrophysicsPhysicsDissertationsHEFT measurement of the hard X-ray size of the Crab Nebula and the hard X-ray optics of the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR)http://academiccommons.columbia.edu/catalog/ac:141649
An, Hongjunhttp://hdl.handle.net/10022/AC:P:11786Wed, 09 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000In this thesis, I discuss two topics: The High Energy Focusing Telescope (HEFT) and the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR). HEFT is the first experiment done with imaging telescopes in the hard X-ray energy band (~20-70 keV). I briefly describe the instrument and the balloon campaign. The inflight calibration of the Point Spread Function (PSF) is done with a point source observation (~50 minutes of Cyg X-1 observation). With the PSF calibrated, I attempt to measuring the size of the Crab Nebula in this energy band. Analysis for aspect reconstruction, optical axis determination and the size measurement are described in detail. The size of the Crab Nebula is energy dependent due to synchrotron burn-off. The measurement of the size at different energies can provide us with important parameters for the pulsar wind nebula (PWN) model such as the magnetization parameter. With ~60 minutes of observation of the Crab Nebula with HEFT, I measure the size of the Crab Nebula at energies of 25-58 keV. The analysis technique I used for the size measurement here can be used for measuring the size of astrophysical objects whose sizes are comparable to the width of the PSF. NuSTAR is a satellite version of the HEFT experiment although the spatial and spectral resolution of the optics are improved significantly. And thus, the fabrication technique for the HEFT optics needed to be modified. I describe the fabrication technique for the NuSTAR optics, focusing on the epoxy selection and process development and the metrology systems for characterizing the figure of the glass surfaces.Physics, Astrophysicsha2153PhysicsDissertationsFrom Measure Zero to Measure Hero: Periodic Kerr Orbits and Gravitational Wave Physicshttp://academiccommons.columbia.edu/catalog/ac:137822
Perez-Giz, Gabehttp://hdl.handle.net/10022/AC:P:11008Mon, 29 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0000A direct observational detection of gravitational waves - perhaps the most fundamental prediction of a theory of curved spacetime - looms close at hand. Stellar mass compact objects spiraling into supermassive black holes have received particular attention as sources of gravitational waves detectable by space-based gravitational wave observatories. A well-established approach models such an extreme mass ratio inspirals (EMRI) as an adiabatic progression through a series of Kerr geodesics. Thus, the direct detection of gravitational radiation from EMRIs and the extraction of astrophysical information from those waveforms require a thorough knowledge of the underlying geodesic dynamics. This dissertation adopts a dynamical systems approach to the study of Kerr orbits, beginning with equatorial orbits. We deduce a topological taxonomy of orbits that hinges on a correspondence between periodic orbits and rational numbers. The taxonomy defines the entire dynamics, including aperiodic motion, since every orbit is in or near the periodic set. A remarkable implication of this periodic orbit taxonomy is that the simple precessing ellipse familiar from planetary orbits is not allowed in the strong-field regime. Instead, eccentric orbits trace out precessions of multi-leaf clovers in the final stages of inspiral. Furthermore, for any black hole, there is some orbital angular momentum value in the strong-field regime below which zoom-whirl behavior becomes unavoidable. We then generalize the taxonomy to help identify nonequatorial orbits whose radial and polar frequencies are rationally related, or in resonance. The thesis culminates by describing how those resonant orbits can be leveraged for an order of magnitude or more reduction in the computational cost of adiabatic order EMRI trajectories, which are so prohibitively expensive that no such relativistically correct inspirals have been generated to date.Physics, Astrophysics, Applied mathematicsgep1PhysicsDissertationsAccretion topics in astrophysicshttp://academiccommons.columbia.edu/catalog/ac:137835
Zalamea, Ivanhttp://hdl.handle.net/10022/AC:P:11012Mon, 29 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0000Accretion theory is essential for understanding a multitude of varied astronomical observations such as X-ray binaries, active galactic nuclei and gamma-ray bursts. In this document three works on accretion will be presented.The first one is on the structure of an inviscid accretion disc with small angular momentum around a rotating black hole. This regime of accretion may occur in X-ray binaries and GRBs. The second work is on neutrino antineutrino annihilation in the vicinity of a hyper-accreting black hole. This work is relevant for the study of GRBs, in particular it singles out when neutrinos may be responsible for powering GRBs. The third work studies the tidal stripping of a white dwarf spiraling into a massive black hole. The stripped matter accretes onto the black hole producing a transient emission, presumably periodic, observable with X-ray and optical telescopes. At the same time the white dwarf emits gravitational waves as it spirals into the black hole.Astrophysicsilz2101PhysicsDissertations